My Adventures on the John Deere Mower
Written: Jan 11 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Powerhorse, well made, handles the tough stuff
Cons: Tires can get leaks on rough terrain, expensive
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| netKat's Full Review: John Deere Lawn Tractor |
We've had the John Deere for several years. We've abused it the whole time. My husband has pushed the envelope on this piece of equipment to the point where I'm surprised the thing still runs. He uses it like a farm tractor, mowing into packs of sticker bushes, demolishing saplings, and hacking down virgin pastures. And then there's me... I have had some wild adventures, but I'll talk about that later. Let's get to the features:
-Overhead valve 2 cylinder 17hp engine
This must be pretty good, but to tell you the truth I know nothing about engines. I press the gas, and the thing goes. I activate the deck and it cuts the grass. That's all I feel I need to know. :)
-Liquid cooled!
As opposed to the normal air cooled models, this has been excellent for our (over)usage. My husband has had this thing running for 6 hours straight on many a hot August afternoon and it still hasn't overheated even once. If you are going to be using your mower on a large area, you may want to look for this feature. Very few of the models have it.
-48 Inch Deck
It cuts a pretty good area for your cruising dollar.
-Automatic transmission
It's just like an automatic car, which is the only kind I know how to drive. The speed is entirely variable based on how leadfooted you are.
-Safety Seat
I think this is one of the most important features to look for on a riding mower. On the John Deere, the minute you lift your weight off the seat the blades stop immediately. So even when you're tempted to try to bend over and move that baseball out of your path, the mower decides it would be a good idea to stop the choppers. I have no doubt this feature has saved many digits and limbs. The seat is very comfortable and it has a nice bouncy action. The only problem I have is that if I take a pothole too fast and I bounce up the mower turns off. I love to drive it fast! :)
-Big macho tires
I love big tires with rough tread. It makes me feel like I can conquer any terrain. We have had some problems with the tires on this mower, but I think it stems from my husbands attack on a thicket of thorny sticker bushes. You can even see giant thorns sticking out of the tires sometimes.
-Remove the deck and you can pretend it's a 4-Wheeler!
Shhhh, don't tell the kids!
-Easy to attach wagon
Hitches to the back pulls stuff. We've hauled everything from rocks to kids.
We shopped extensively before we bought the John Deere. We really didn't want to spend this much money, but we could see a huge quality difference between the Deere and other brands. My husband is an engineer, so when I say we shopped, I'm talking about countless weekends casing out every mower known to the existence of man. I'm talking about test driving mowers in the parking lot. I'm talking about extensive under the hood inspections. This was no picnic.
The John Deere is Quality. It is very well made and sturdy. You can see it and feel it. Because of the design and built in safety features, I feel much more comfortable having my kids mow with this than using a push mower.
Based on our investigations, abuse, and results we can highly recommend a John Deere and assure you that it is worth the extra cost. For the full scoop on John Deere mowers and tractors you can check out their web site at www.deere.com.
Now, if you're still with me, I'll tell you about some of my adventures on the John Deere...
The Rampaging Hornets
I was innocently mowing near the side of the house. We have woods all around us, and in this particular area there was an old tree. Now the John Deere has a nice turning radius, so I was getting as close as possible to the trunk. I should mention that the special plastic cover over the chute where all the cut grass blows out was off (my husband and the sticker bush thicket again) so the grass was blowing out quite forcefully. Naturally, it was blowing towards the big tree trunk. Suddenly I felt some painful jabs on the top of my head. I reached my hand up to felt a huge bug. I mean this thing was the size of a B-52, and he had some friends too. Well, of course, I shrieked and floored the mower. So here I am on a riding mower trying to outrun what is fast becoming a swarm of ticked-off enormous hornets. I was having a hard time trying to swat them off me and control the steering. Finally, I jumped off and made a run for the house. I was screaming all the way, arms flailing trying to get them off me! They were pretty slow flyers because they were so big. I could hear them viciously buzzing trying to get a piece of me. My husband was standing at the front door by the time I got there and started trying to slap them off me too. They were tangled in my hair and stinging! Looking back, it was really funny. I'm sure the neighbors thought it was some kind of domestic dispute. Apparently the tree was dead and the black area that looked rotten was actually wall to wall hornets. We did get revenge by rigging up the BMW with pressurized bug spray and staging an attack on the nest... but that's another story. Forever traumatized, I shy away from mowing near trees now.
The Mud
My son was mowing and he got into a bit of a wet area. I guess it had been raining quite a bit and this land was pretty muddy. Despite his best efforts to prevent the inevitable, the mower got stuck. He came into the house for some help, and I went outside to survey the situation. Hey, this was no big deal for supermom... I told him to get on the mower and carefully try to drive forward while I pushed from behind and together we could get it out of this wet area. Look, I had physics just like everyone else, but for some reason I forgot the rule about every action having an equal and opposite reaction. Well, when the tires started spinning, the mud started flying and guess where it landed? I'm not talking about a few specks of dirt. I'm talking about mud flying. When it first started to hit me it was kind of a shock, but then I was laughing so hard that when the mower finally lurched out of the wet area I fell face first right into the, yeah, you guessed it, mud. At that point it really didn't make me any muddier than I already was. I think I was laughing so hard I peed my pants, but I was so full of wet dirt I couldn't tell.
The Errant Branch
My hair is kind of long and I had it up in a ponytail on this beautiful summer day. Ah, to be riding the John Deere, mastering the land, the smell of freshly cut grass in my wake. I ventured into the side area where there are a lot of trees, but spread apart enough that it's not too difficult to mow. Plus, it's nice and shady and cool. This foray was subsequent to the hornet incident, so you better believe I was casing out every trunk near me lest there be a peace loving hive hiding and not wanting to be disturbed. I guess I was scanning so diligently, that I didn't notice a low level branch in front of me. Suddenly, I felt something pulling at my ponytail and I reached up tentatively, scared that it might be a hornet again. It was a tree branch that had gotten stuck in my ponytail holder. It was starting to pull my hair and head. Now what? DUH! I didn't think about taking my foot off the gas. I guess my automatic reaction was to floor it and try to get away (more PTSD from the hornets). Well, thank God for the automatic shut off, because when the branch finally pulled my head up to the point that my butt lifted off the seat, the mower stopped. Another fine reason to get a John Deere mower with automatic shut off.
Happy mowing! :)
Recommended:
Yes
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netKat
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Member: Kat
Location: Maryland
Reviews written: 166
Trusted by: 885 members
About Me:
Analytically inclined mom, bank officer, freelance writer, and internet addict.
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